Quarterly report pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d)

PRODUCT WARRANTY LIABILITY (Details)

v2.4.1.9
PRODUCT WARRANTY LIABILITY (Details) (USD $)
In Millions, unless otherwise specified
3 Months Ended
Mar. 29, 2015
Mar. 30, 2014
Dec. 31, 2014
Product Warranty Liability:      
Balance, beginning of year $ 1,283us-gaap_ProductWarrantyAccrual $ 1,129us-gaap_ProductWarrantyAccrual  
Provision for warranties issued 109us-gaap_StandardProductWarrantyAccrualWarrantiesIssued 84us-gaap_StandardProductWarrantyAccrualWarrantiesIssued  
Deferred revenue on extended warranty contracts sold 56us-gaap_DeferredRevenueAdditions 53us-gaap_DeferredRevenueAdditions  
Payments (94)us-gaap_ProductWarrantyAccrualPayments (102)us-gaap_ProductWarrantyAccrualPayments  
Amortization of deferred revenue on extended warranty contracts (43)us-gaap_DeferredRevenueRevenueRecognized (34)us-gaap_DeferredRevenueRevenueRecognized  
Changes in estimates for pre-existing warranties 15us-gaap_ExtendedProductWarrantyAccrualPreexistingIncreaseDecrease 2us-gaap_ExtendedProductWarrantyAccrualPreexistingIncreaseDecrease  
Foreign currency translation (6)us-gaap_ProductWarrantyAccrualCurrencyTranslationIncreaseDecrease 1us-gaap_ProductWarrantyAccrualCurrencyTranslationIncreaseDecrease  
Balance, end of period 1,320us-gaap_ProductWarrantyAccrual 1,133us-gaap_ProductWarrantyAccrual  
Product Warranty Liability      
Deferred Revenue, Current 393us-gaap_DeferredRevenueCurrent   401us-gaap_DeferredRevenueCurrent
Total deferred revenue related to extended coverage programs 620cmi_DeferredRevenueExtendedCoveragePrograms    
Total receivables related to estimated supplier recoveries 12cmi_ReceivableForSupplierRecoveries    
Deferred revenue      
Product Warranty Liability      
Deferred Revenue, Current 173us-gaap_DeferredRevenueCurrent
/ us-gaap_BalanceSheetLocationAxis
= cmi_DeferredRevenueMember
   
Other liabilities and deferred revenue      
Product Warranty Liability      
Deferred revenue related to extended coverage programs, Noncurrent portion 447us-gaap_DeferredRevenueNoncurrent
/ us-gaap_BalanceSheetLocationAxis
= cmi_OtherLiabilitiesAndDeferredRevenueMember
   
Long-term portion of warranty liability 321us-gaap_ProductWarrantyAccrualNoncurrent
/ us-gaap_BalanceSheetLocationAxis
= cmi_OtherLiabilitiesAndDeferredRevenueMember
   
Trade and other receivables      
Product Warranty Liability      
Receivables related to estimated supplier recoveries, Current portion 8cmi_ReceivableForSupplierRecoveriesReportedCurrent
/ us-gaap_BalanceSheetLocationAxis
= cmi_TradeAndOtherReceivablesMember
   
Other assets      
Product Warranty Liability      
Receivables related to estimated supplier recoveries, Long-term portion $ 4cmi_ReceivableForSupplierRecoveriesReportedNoncurrent
/ us-gaap_BalanceSheetLocationAxis
= us-gaap_OtherAssetsMember